Definition of "Pamela"

They lived about thirty miles from the Squire; and she told me, that I might be sure to find her out by one circumstance; for that they had a daughter with a very strange name, Pamĕla, or Pamēla; some pronounced it one way, and some the other.

1773, Henry Fielding, The History and Adventures of Joseph Andrews, page 259

- But, Pamela, did you say? - A queer sort of name! - I've heard of it somewhere! - Is it a Christian or a Pagan name? - Linsey-woolsey - half one, half t'other - like thy girl - Ha, ha, ha.'

1786, Samuel Richardson, Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, page 416